The fund is looking at putting between $1.5 billion and $2 billion into the largest Indian e-commerce operator within the next two months, said one of the people, asking to not be identified as the discussions are private.

Earlier this year, Alok Sama, SoftBank's president and CFO of its international operations, resigned from the group's SB Investment Advisers, a vehicle set up by SoftBank to advise its ambitious $100bn Vision Fund